The Best Ceremonial Cacao Brands for Your Cacao Ceremony

As the days start to get shorter and colder, many of us look to hot chocolate as our warm drink of choice. It feels like a wonderful treat to sit down with a cup to read, watch TV, or even look out at the rain and snow. A cup of rich, ceremonial cacao however, can feel just as comforting as well as steadier and more grounding than regular, store-bought hot chocolate.

In a nutshell, ceremonial cacao is pure, high-grade cacao made to emulate the spiritual practices of people in Central and South America in which it is traditionally used. It is far removed from the sugary cocoa mixes you might see at the grocery store, often retaining many of the plant’s vital nutrients and having a much more complex and nuanced flavor profile. Many people choose organic, ceremonial cacao over regular cacao mixes because it more closely resembles a real product. Ceremonial cacao is less adulterated cacao, with the fat kept in tact. The reason people can use this for ceremonies is because it a different format of the whole cacao beans, with more respect brought to the plant vs the regular cacao which is just used as a conventional product for taste. There are many cacao makers out there with their own styles, so read on to see how they stack up.

As one of the market leaders in the ceremonial cacao space, Ora Cacao leans heavily into the ceremonial style, using coin-shaped cacao discs and preparation steps that often involve blending or frothing for a smooth cup. They are transparent about heavy metal testing and claim to keep over 80% of the cacao plant’s natural flavonoids in their finished product. However, what are those flavanol levels specifically? Ora focuses on sourcing small batch cacao from different parts of Central and South America and we believe approaches cacao with honest intentions.

Vital Purple offers every different traditional product format: High Flavanol Cacao Powder, High Flavanol Chocolate, and Organic Cacao Nibs. Many people find easier for quick weekday routines—especially when you want a fast scoop for hot chocolate, smoothies, oatmeal, or baking without needing to melt discs first. If you like a slower, whisk-and-sip ritual, discs can be a great fit, but if you want an easy-measure format for daily use, cacao powder can be simpler. As an alternative, Vital Purple offers High Flavanol Chocolate Squares for these cacao ceremonies as well. 

Origen is another brand leaning heavily into the ceremonial style, stating their ceremonial-grade cacao to be grown in volcanic soil and naturally low in heavy metals. They focus on the ritual of daily cacao intake, and source from multiple indigenous communities in Colombia. Origen offers milk and white chocolate as well as dark chocolate from 55% up to 80% purity. 

Vital Purple’s ceremonial cacao comes from a single origin, Arriba Nacional in Ecuador, and is not only rigorously tested for heavy metal content but verified high in cocoa flavanols as well. Unlike other brands that claim certain high levels of purity, Vital Purple’s cacao is kept truly raw, never fermented or roasted and kept below 95°F every step of the way. With Vital Purple, you know you’re receiving all the nutrients this ancient superfood naturally provides.

Keith’s is a ceremonial cacao sourced from Guatemala that promotes itself as a superior alternative to coffee, with its site foregrounding many of the plant’s nutrients and natural benefits. Certain areas of Guatemala have truly wonderful flavor profiles and a strong indigenous community that processes cacao using the old ways. From physical and mental performance to heart health and boosts of energy, they tend to focus on these more so than the ritualistic aspects of competing brands. Keith’s describes their process as involving light roasting and examination by hand to ensure the best product.

Vital Purple focuses heavily on these benefits as well, while also making sure to maintain the natural purple hue of the crop in order to signify the purest and most potent ceremonial cacao on the market. Vital Purple is unfermented, unroasted, and with a higher-fat profile that many prefer for the richer, whole-food feel it provides.

Koracao is another brand that describes its ceremonial cacao as coming from indigenous communities in Central and South America, with products spanning Peru, Colombia, and Guatemala. In their marketing, they touch both on the ceremonial and health aspects of organic cacao, while also indicating that their product is traditionally hand-processed rather than commercially processed. They also offer different formats including larger pieces, shards, and a powder which they call their “instant” ceremonial cacao.

Similarly, Vital Purple is another single-ingredient ceremonial cacao that comes straight from indigenous communities to your pantry and has all the health benefits of a high-flavanol cacao while offering different cacao formats for those who prefer more of a ritual. The major difference is that Vital Purple is much more transparent about its exact flavanol content, and some of Koracao’s varieties are on the pricier side.

Ohm Cacao is a brand focusing largely on the “mushroom coffee” trend, with some products being multi-ingredient blends in that style, though they do offer pure cacao powder as well. They don’t emphasize the ceremonial aspects quite as much as some other brands, though they do produce from Peru’s trinitario variety of cocoa bean. If you’re most interested in a mushroom-cacao blend, they may be the one to go with, however some of their blends have seed oils used as emulsifiers. 

Vital Purple keeps the focus on straight purple cacao powder, which is helpful if you prefer a simple base you can customize at home with cinnamon, vanilla, protein, or any other additives. During a cold winter, blends can feel convenient when you want a “one-scoop” option, while a single-ingredient cacao is more flexible when you want to control exactly what goes in your mug.

Cacao Adventures is a ceremonial cacao brand that is very upfront about its multiple single-origin offerings from places like the Amazon and Peru. They talk a lot about the traditional farming and processing techniques that go into the cacao products they provide; perfect for those who prefer the ritualistic aspect. Cacao Adventures is an organic cacao that is tested for heavy metals and comes in bars, beans, and nibs among other varieties.

Like Cacao Adventures, Vital Purple is transparent about the fact that while our product is organic, it cannot be officially certified organic due to the difficulty of getting a third-party certifier to the remote regions where the cacao is traditionally harvested and processed. If you prefer a high-flavanol offering that comes in an easy-to-mix powder, however, stick with Vital Purple.

Another single-origin ceremonial cacao, full power comes from Venezuela, and focuses very heavily on the spiritual aspects while also touching on the effects on heart health, cognitive health, and overall wellbeing. Their cacao comes in nibs as well as other formats, though they mostly stick to ones that offer the traditional melt-and-mix approach rather than offering a quick-mix powder.

With some many options of cacao in the world, having a Venezuela origin cacao is quite rare and definitely a top tier producing area of the world in regards to quality. It is up there with Ecuador, Guatemala, Belize, Nicaragua, Madagascar, and the Philippines. 

The traditional approach of melting the cacao paste creates a much much creamier product, which is why Vital Purple still offers a high flavanol chocolate used as a ceremonial cacao for melting into High Flavanol Hot Chocolate. A Venezuelan cacao is truly rare, so it will come down to customer preference and priority of Antioxidant content. 

Soul Lift Cacao is another ceremonial cacao brand whose flagship product comes in the form of a paste. They provide a map showing each of their single-origin sources throughout Central America, being among the most transparent brands on this specific issue. Central America has a much more unique, and less bitter flavor profile than what can be found in high exporting countries like Peru. This is because the cacao is grown by generations of cacao growers, and in Peru cacao is seen as a commodity. They offer multiple varieties of pure cacao which they describe as gluten-free, vegan, keto and paleo friendly, and wood fire roasted.

There is lifting the soul and then there is feeding the cells. For maximum antioxidant preservation, Vital Purple products are kept below 90°F with the fermentation and roasting steps intentionally removed, to preserve the natural color of cacao, purple. Though our powder is certainly a quicker mix than other brands’ paste formats, we do share that our higher-fat approach can make it a bit more difficult, so many people prefer a whisk, frother, or blender for extra-smooth High Flavanol Hot Chocolate. 

Both companies offer a unique and pleasant flavor profile, with Vital Purple a bit more focused on cacao polyphenol content. 

Maia Cacao is a high-flavanol forward ceremonial cacao brand that forefronts many of the health benefits we’ve discussed here. Maia talks about its effects on circulation as well as healthy nitric oxide production and daily energy while also indicating their product to be vegan, sugar-free, and tested for heavy metals. I could not find their specific flavanol content, but to have naturally high flavanol content without using an extract, and offering natural pure cacao, should be commended! However, Maia cacao states on their website that they have no heavy metals in their cacao. This isn't possible, there are always trace amounts of heavy metals in cacao, in almost every food. It's an irresponsible claim to make. 

Vital Purple, by contrast, is more transparent about our heavy metal testing and other product features, while also being easier to find more general information on. Both brands come in a powder format for easy mixing, but if you want a product where you know you’re getting high quality, Vital Purple is without a doubt the one to choose.

As we’ve seen, cacao brands have many different qualities from added ingredients to ease of mixability that may make them preferable for drinks and snacking to some, so why choose Vital Purple?

Vital Purple hopes to shift people's understanding ceremonial cacao entirely. The old days of referencing shamans and mythical stories of cacao's magic are over. A new age of science behind cacao has begun and Vital Purple hopes to lead the way in educating people on how to use cacao as a powerful antioxidant rather than a ritual, with fingers crossed for health benefits.

Vital Purple is the world’s first and only pure, raw, ceremonial cacao made with a focus on preserving the plant’s natural polyphenols, cocoa flavonoids, superoxide dismutase, magnesium, catechins and epicatechins. If you want a cacao powder that keeps all the best nutrients of the plant it comes from, one where you know exactly what you’re eating and mixing into your drinks, Vital Purple is the pure cacao for you.

Writer / Researcher: Trey Norbey